The mountain path lay within the territory of the Divine Firmament Dao Sect.
Disciples of the Divine Firmament Dao Sect often patrolled these mountains. This place was far safer than anywhere in the Great Ming Dynasty.
No one dared cause trouble here!
That was an ironclad rule of the entire Southern Heaven Continent's cultivation world.
That was precisely why Steward Li felt less worried after arriving here. Even Golden Core experts wouldn't dare cause trouble within the Divine Firmament Dao Sect's territory!
This was the majesty of a great immortal sect. Anyone who challenged it would die!
On the first mountain peak, flower beds and medicinal gardens dotted the slopes. Li Yunjing spotted a ginseng garden several hundred zhang away, its rich medicinal fragrance drifting toward them on the breeze.
Just one whiff lifted Li Yunjing's spirits.
"I never expected there to be medicinal gardens here, too."
His eyes went wide, and Li Yunjing couldn't help asking.
If they weren't in the wrong place, he would have been itching to cross the hills and gullies, hack through the brush, and get into that garden to harvest as much as he could.
If all that ginseng were his, Li Yunjing couldn't even imagine how much higher it might raise his Martial Dao Cultivation. It might even give his Qi Refining Realm cultivation a significant boost.
"Heh! Even the youngest of these ginseng plants have been growing for a hundred years. In the mortal world, the powerful would fight tooth and nail over such treasures."
Steward Li gave Li Yunjing a knowing look and smiled before continuing, "But in the Divine Firmament Dao Sect, these things aren't worth much. They're the most ordinary goods."
"If you manage to join the sect and become a true disciple, you won't even give these things a second glance."
Steward Li finished with a hearty laugh.
"I see! I never imagined a great immortal sect would have such resources! If I were still in the mortal world, I wouldn't have dreamed this was possible!"
Li Yunjing nodded in admiration. This time, he had truly seen something new.
These things were treated like weeds, planted outside the mountain gate. It had to be just as Steward Li said: as far as the Divine Firmament Dao Sect was concerned, they weren't worth much.
So this was the grandeur of a great immortal sect!
"Come on! If you manage to join the Divine Firmament Dao Sect, you'll be set for life."
Steward Li looked at Li Yunjing, his expression filled with conflicting emotions.
He had no idea whether this insignificant young man before him was destined to succeed.
After all, Steward Li had once tried himself, but he'd failed because of his spiritual root.
The three mountain peaks stood ten li apart.
However, the mountain paths wound and twisted, making the journey far from easy.
The mountain seemed close, yet the horses died before reaching it—that was exactly how Li Yunjing felt.
Whether it was Yu Yunyi, Steward Li, or even the weakest of them, Ling'er, all four were cultivators or martial experts. Not one of them was weak.
Yet even these experts took more than an hour to reach their destination.
That showed just how far the Guest-Welcoming Peak lay from the mountain's outer reaches!
And considering the entire Divine Firmament Mountain Range in light of the Guest-Welcoming Peak, it was clear just how vast this immortal mountain was.
The sun sank in the west, and red clouds filled the horizon.
Only then did the four of them arrive before a thousand-zhang mountain peak.
Ancient pines and green cypresses covered the slopes, alongside flying waterfalls and gurgling streams.
Pavilions and towers stood one after another along the mountainside and atop the peaks.
At the very summit stood a rippling celestial lake. Beside it rose an even more magnificent, towering building, white as jade.
The building was faintly shrouded in clouds and mist, making it impossible to see what it was.
As they climbed toward the Guest-Welcoming Peak, they often spotted spirit creatures leaping and soaring across the mountain: cranes, golden eagles, white deer, White Tigers, jade rabbits, and peacocks.
These spirit birds and beasts didn't attack the four of them. It seemed the Divine Firmament Dao Sect had raised them and tamed their wild nature.
Li Yunjing stared at everything, dumbfounded.
"Stop gawking. This is only the Divine Firmament Dao Sect's Guest-Welcoming Peak! It's just the mountain gate!"
Seeing Li Yunjing's wide-eyed, country-bumpkin expression, Yu Yunyi couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Just the mountain gate?"
Li Yunjing stared blankly. As far as the eye could see, fields of Spirit Ganoderma, Siberian Solomon's Seal, ginseng, and fleeceflower root lined the mountain, producing hundreds of thousands of medicinal herbs.
The air was rich with the scent of medicine, and yet this was only the entrance to the mountain gate?
Just one of these heavenly treasures would have caused a bloodbath in the mortal world. Countless people would willingly give their lives for one!
And now, they seemed endless!
Li Yunjing swallowed hard. At that moment, he couldn't even bring himself to care that Yu Yunyi was laughing at him. He truly felt like a frog at the bottom of a well.
The Divine Firmament Dao Sect had shattered Li Yunjing's worldview again and again!
"Sigh! I never imagined this was what the immortal path looked like!"
"No wonder everyone says being an immortal is wonderful! No matter what, I have to join the sect and devote myself to cultivation here, in the hope of attaining immortality."
Even if Li Yunjing returned to the mortal world and shared what he'd seen, people would think he was bragging and making things up.
This was beyond anything the mortal world could comprehend.
At that moment, Li Yunjing understood that he had to say goodbye to the mortal world. No matter what, he had to join the Divine Firmament Dao Sect!
Only Yu Yunyi and Steward Li seemed relatively unfazed. Clearly, they had seen medicinal fields like these in their Lineage and were somewhat accustomed to them.
Following the mountain path, they reached the summit of the Guest-Welcoming Peak. Aside from a stone-paved trail, only a massive white jade gate stood atop the peak.
"So the tallest structure I saw earlier wasn't some immortal palace. It was a gate!"
Only then did Li Yunjing realize he'd been mistaken.
The four gilded characters "Divine Firmament Dao Sect" were written across the stone gate.
Li Yunjing glanced at them and felt that the characters were wondrous beyond compare. They drew his consciousness into their depths, holding it fast.
Just as Li Yunjing was becoming lost in them, an image appeared in his sea of consciousness: a purple-robed Daoist held an immortal sword as he floated in midair, chanting. In an instant, thunderclouds filled the sky. A bolt of lightning descended along the immortal sword and struck a mountain, smashing it to pieces.
Then the scene vanished from Li Yunjing's sea of consciousness.
He returned to normal.
Only then did Li Yunjing look at the three-zhang-tall gate, his face filled with reverence.
Li Yunjing knew that the characters on the Divine Firmament Dao Sect's mountain gate contained Dao insight. Those who comprehended it could glimpse extraordinary things within them.
What he didn't know was that everyone comprehended something different, and therefore saw something different.
Yu Yunyi, like him, had sensed the Dao insight within them—only she hadn't seen lightning arts...
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